Talk Elections

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WHAT: Debate among Republican candidates for president

WHEN: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight

WHERE: Sheslow Auditorium, Drake University. All tickets are sold out.

WHO: Six candidates will participate: Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Jon Huntsman did not meet criteria tied to standings in state and national polls.

HOSTS: ABC News, local affiliate WOI-TV, The Des Moines Register, Yahoo and the Republican Party of Iowa.

MODERATORS: ABC News anchors Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos.

HOW TO WATCH: Airs nationally on the ABC television network and in central Iowa on WOI-TV, Channel 5. Will be livestreamed by those sources and here, at DesMoinesRegister.com/caucus.

PROTESTS: Occupy Des Moines protesters plan to be on the scene.

http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/12/10/about-tonights-gop-debate

...

Please one of the mods sticky it. Thx.

I wont be around to post tonight, but I will be watching.

FYI, that's 8-10pm Central, so 9-11pm Eastern.

Since nobody will watch this debate other than some dorks on here, it will not be likely to change the narrative and thusly we can count it as an automatic Gingrich win. Congrats, Mr. Newt!

The CBS Saturday debate did about as well as the weekday debates on the cable networks:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/15/cbs-gop-debate-viewership-falls-short-of-recent-fox-news-cnn-debates/110548/

The fact that it's on a Saturday night is nearly made up for by the fact that it's on a broadcast network rather than a cable network.

Considering that the audience for these things is probably old people, I'm sure they have nothing better to do on a Saturday night.

Watch it kid...

I wonder if we'll see a different dynamic with only six candidates on stage. Will some viewers  assume that Huntsman's absence means he's withdrawn from the race?

Sorry sir!

Is there a way to watch this on the internet? I have not had my cable set up yet...

Here's what should be a live feed (http://kaaltv.com/article/12380/) once the debate is airing.

Thankyou

Well, where is it?

Central time, not eastern.

http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2011/12/abc-news-gop-debate-tonight-at-9pm-et-from-iowa/

I predict Romney and Gingrich will have at least one Romney/Perry style one-on-one fight

Paul will get in on the Newtpile. And have some fun with Rick Santorum "Goatse"

Uhhh...

There's a rumor Santorum is gonna be using his great-grandfather's name from here on.

This is a VERY important debate

By the way, anyoen remember Alan Keyes in this debate four years ago???

Let's see if they have to sit at school desks again.

Aren't my voice and vote the same thing?

Dear God, I'd forgotten how annoying Sawyer is.

When she said the office what these people are running for, it all became way too real for me...

Thomas its your money that is your voice, silly.

Even Pelley was more tolerable. Only John King was worse.

Well Newt just has to go from bookstore to bookstore.

Is it just me, or are the candidates sitting TOO close to each other?

Romney's seven points seems like an implied dig at Perry's memory.

Very different- seems like a smaller stage

Perry just had his Bob Dole moment, and Bachmann is the first to shamelessly beg for Cains supporters.

Perry is angry.  And is still pushing the "our problems are so simple even I can understand them" thing.

He's not dead.

Santorum really deserves more support than he has...

His high negatives & lack of support have always surprised me, too. And he has an interesting set of emphases that really contrast with what's offered by the other candidates.

Romney dodges the payroll qustion

In the absence of Huntsman, Romney assumes the bad joke-making mantle.

Fake Mitt laugh.

Romney getting lots of time so far.

Romney refuses to attack Newt directly....

HAHAHAH Politico is avenged..... Mitt references lunar colony, child labor laws....

I really have to wonder how that attack plays.

Romney is using Politico's attack lines! (And the moon base line is just as silly on the debate stage.)

WOAH BURN

Hah! Hah! Newt! Brilliant!

WOW... that was amazing

NEWT!!!

You lost to Ted Kennedy.

That's great.

lolololol.  Okay comeback.  Newt scored a solid hit, though.

The moderators are setting up EVERYONE to attack Newt, and everyone's doing it so far.

But Romney's line won't be replayed a 1000 times like Newt's will be.

WHY do all of the anti Romneys bash each other? Why don't Bachmann Paul Perry Santorum Gingrich all gang up on romney as opposed to each other????  

They are going to hand Mitt the nomination!

Bachmann says she's 55 years old and has spent 50 years in the private sector.  So I guess she was a private sector baby?

Bachmann is 55 and has spent 50 years as a businesswoman? So she is counting her lemonade stand when she was 5?

Right now, Mitt looks strained and Newt looks jolly. That could change, but for now, he's in a better position to loose his cool.

BWAAH NEWT ROMNEY!

Right, right.

Oh, this is a fun debate.

Newt and Romney did pretty damn well against each other.

Then Paul hits Newt and he apparently just tapped out and backed off. Go figure.

Newt's humility is just so refreshing.

Why Jon Huntsman! Why???

By the way, Attack Dog Bachmann is back.

Is it worth watching?

More than any this year!

YES

Perry cites a study? WHAT IS THIS? Of a libertarian organization, of all things.

Why couldn't Mitt call the white house?

For Perry, attacking the unlikable frontrunner (Romney) rather than the likable frontrunner who is  better at debating (Gingrich), might be a very wise strategy.

The debate seems to be between Mitt Gingrich and Rick Bachmann.

Romney is DEFINITELY references Perry's forgetting 3rd thing

I wonder when they're going to tell Diane that we can hear her whispering.

Gingrich points out mandates was a conservative idea...

Mitt offering a 10K bet to Perry doesn't do well to make him a common man....

Romney's rich so he can throw around 10,000 bucks.

This makes me not like him.

Just dropped in.  Newt must be loving a nonfactor like Perry attacking Romney for no reason.

Yeah, I thought that was really stupid too, especially given that Romney's fortune is so much larger than Perry's, and that Perry likes to play up his origin as the "son of tenant farmers."

Romney's "I watching you..." stare/smile is creepy as hell...

Michele Bachman is prö-gröwth.

AMazing debate so far....

Ok, I'm watching this with a huge group of people and can hear nothing, but it looks like Romney is tearing things up. True/false?

Quite a while back, we had the "grunting moderator" who said "UH UH UH" every time the candidates talked.

Now, we have the "mumbling moderator". "mumblemumble stick to the rules mumblemumble we agreed to mumblemumble blahblahblah changing topics mumblemumble"

He's doing decently, but hardly dominating.

lol they're showing a commercial with Fred Thompson advocating government insurance

She's quite Northern Cities shifted, too, which is a jarring juxtaposition.  Essentially she can't decide whether she's a trendy city girl or a good öld fashioned Minnesötan.

Romney's doing good but not great.  Newt is doing good but the kitchen sink has been thrown at him.

Romney has had two terrible moments: "You lost to Teddy Kennedy," and "Let's make a bet"

I love this debate.

I believe these are the best moderators yet... they do not try to become part of the action or act like candidates

Sawyer talks too much.

And now they go to family...moderators really want to take down Newt.

YESSS FAMILY VALUES \O/

And going right for marital fidelity!  Snap!

Marital fidelity... damn

Nevermind... these moderators are asking leading questions, trying to bash Newt

Faith and family? This is going to get even better.

Mitt has said some good things but the gang of Ricks and Michelle are taking a chunk out of Mitt Romney.

Newt just gave Perry a death stare.

Look at Newt's face. It is priceless.

Mittens knows how to defend himself,, and managed to mention Newt's moon adventure. :P He also did well in saying he wanted to focus tax relief on the middle class, rather than zero out capital gains taxes for those "above" that station ala Newt. The debate is good because the mods don't say much, and are asking questions that induce the candidates to try to distinguish themselves.  Bachmann keeps having these nice little talking points, but then she gilds the lilly, and gets out on a thin branch, which is then easily cut off. Perry is actually getting reasonably coherent in his superficial way.  If he had started out this way, and then got better ... ? Santorum is having a good night.

All in all, so far,  Mittens must be rather suffused with joy.

Suddenly grumpy old man is coming out over jolly uncle. Let's see what he says.

I liked Paul's response to this a lot, at least most of it.

Me too, showed his human side. He's hard not to like as a human being, whatever you think of his policies.

Did Michele just use the royal we??

Marcus makes my gaydar go insanely overloaded.

Lol at the pan-in on Marcus.

They all do that actually

Haha, Bachmann tries to fit herself in with the Founders but also be female.

Your gay husband???

Newt dodges going negative himself. I think the prodding and the set-up was too much, and he smelled the rat.

Well done Newt.

She dropped my favorite Jesus blast.

Damnit, my feed froze right when we got to Newt.

Yeah, made me feel sorry for him, which I think is what he was (and should have been) going for.

This is a very hard debate on Newt... he is doing the best he can but there is a target on his back from everyone

Well, that's pretty much his goal. Perry and Cain folded under debate pressure. So far, Gingrich can take it.

Mittens is doing okay.

Your boy is handling this debate MUCH better than the previous FOTM candidates.

That is true

I think it's helped that most attacks have been directed at both him and Romney. He has been very good on the defensive; he can be a bit smarmy when he attacks.

He's doing fine. All the Buzz is about the Kennedy line and Mitt's stupid $10,000 line.

Newt suddenly makes 25 years in the US for illegals a bright line test to let them stay, if the review board likes them. Liar, liar, my pants are on fire. Newt just made this up on the fly (claiming that is part of his "plan," as opposed to his heart throb example to sell his concept), as is his wont if cornered. In a word, he lacks character, and is unfit for high office - this being but one of many reasons.

Are voters just to dumb to see through Newt?

Perry gets applause after...something about immigration?

Perry is doing so much better. Too little too late.

There is something called the "Jewish Channel"?

DEATHLY silence for Palestinians are terrorists.

WOO....HOOOO... Newt!!!!

Noticed this. Are Iowa Republicans more isolationist (or non-interventionist)?

Newt is throwing the red meat and the base is eating it. Romney is trying to be sane and the crowd is not happy. Ladies and gentleman, JulioMadrid is going to get his prediction right.

Can we call Netanyahu "Bibi"?

Romney announces that he will... do exactly what Obama is doing on foreign policy.  Okay.

Am I wrong to read this as Romney's strongest (albeit still flawed) line of attack, so far?

I was at 99%, now I am at 100% for Newt....way to go

"I'm better friends with Netanyahu than you are!"

Newt is whooping Romney's ass.

Who has the better of this argument?

Uhm... I went to Israel in 1974.

I was trying to remember why Romney reminded me so much of Sue Lowden. Now I remember why.

Ah, Mitt cuts a Newt artery, and uses the opening, to basically say that Newt is recklessly mouthy, calling Newt out for complicating Israel's problems with his incendiary rhetoric. Hey Newt, before you start bomb throwing on the Palestinians, metaphorically and literally, maybe you should ask Israel's leader if that would be helpful first. Just a thought. Yes!

Did Perry just say Isreal didn't matter?

Marhsal Tantawi is a radical Islamist?

Uh oh Perry has a list of three!

IT seems Perry is trying the Newt approach:
Step One
Attack the Media
Step Two
Complement GOP candidates.

Wow, Perry with the biggest applause of the debate. Didn't see that coming.

They say that Rick Perry's brain grew three sizes that day.

Solid remark from Perry! He almost forgot the third one, though.

Yep!

Clever question they've brought up for after the break.

He meant that Newt's comments didn't matter, but didn't make that clear.

He got quite a bit of applause there, though.

interesting that she worked on a kibbutz for a summer.  definitely didn't imagine that.

This question is not fair to Romney.

Pretty good answer from Romney.

Apparently single moms are incapable of loving their children properly.

Moderators: Dang, we're out of things to fight over.  Mandates!

Ron Paul has been getting a ton of applause tonight, from what I've seen.

Iowa is NOT the healthiest state in the union.

Is Rick Perry back? Of the three lower-tier candidates who are plausible Iowa winners, he's been having the best night by far.

Perry and Bachmann are the winners so far tonight.

The really interesting thing about Perry is that he is taking the initiative to get into the debate rather than hanging back and hoping the moderators don't call on him, which has (wisely) been his strategy so far.

Agreed on your analysis of Perry's performance, but (to me) Bachmann has seemed pretty irrelevant all night. Nothing to distinguish this from her previous lackluster performances. 

What? I'd rather another real question.

WHAT? Rick Perry names Ron Paul!?! Is he making a play for his supporters?

Perry is physically a very small guy

From personal experience, he doesn't seem that way in person.

Shameless, Gingrich, shameless.

Bachmann: "Herman Cain voters, please support me!!!!"

Everyone gets a plug except for Romney. Incidentally, only Romney truly dodged the question.

Yuck, Bachmann. I was happy to finally have a debate without Herman Cain's goofiness "plainspokeness," and "9-9-9"

It's only 10:47. Are we getting a post game show?

Gingrich won by not loosing - I think probably true.

Fred Thompson!

I lol'd at him as well.

Oh this is so not good for Mitt.

Is it over?

Reaction: Horrible debate for Mitt, Gingrich held his ground, Perry and Paul performed well, Bachmann and Santorum didn't break through.

Gingrich - A-
Perry - B+
Paul - B+
Bachmann - B-
Santorum - C+
Romney - C

Gingrich won. Romney lost. In fact, I think Romney was the only one who performed poorly tonight.

Gingrich held his ground. Romney wasn't bad, but didn't accomplish what he needed to. Perry gave a good performance, but it was too little too late.

Gingrich: A-
Perry: B+
Romney: B
Paul: B
Santorum: C+
Bachmann: D+

I feel cheated.

Gingrich destroyed Romney. The race is over.

Perry: A-
Paul: A-
Gingrich: B+
Bachmann: B
Santorum B- (partly due to lack of time)
Romney: C+

I'll also make a statement - I don't think Gingrich is the most intelligent candidate in this race. Neither is Romney. Paul is, in my opinion. If only his views were slightly more in line with mainstream conservatives, he'd have an even more serious shot at winning the nomination.

Flip Newt and Ron Paul and you'll have it right.

Agreed.

My advice to Romney: Next time, shoehorn entitlement issues in there no matter what. That would be an easy shot at Gingrich.

My feed dropped out half way through and I didn't notice.  Can someone fill me in on why people think Romney did so bad?

Didn't see the first half, but here's my vote based on the second half plus the highlights:

Perry: A
Wow, I've never seen Perry debate this well. Is it too late though?

Paul: A-
Best debate from Paul as well; for the first time seemed like a jolly old man rather than an angry old man

Gingrich: B+
Got attacked a lot, but held his ground

Bachmann: B-
Surprisingly solid performance

Santorum: C
Just in the background, for the most part

Romney: C-
"ten thousand dollar bet?"

The party is starting to go in his direction. Newt needs to watch because Ron is right behind him and could overtake him if he missteps.

Does anyone know where the debate video is posted? I unfortunately missed it, and can't find the debate on abc news's website.

Probably because most forum members don't like him, and automatically think he loses a debate. I remember the apocalyptic predictions from last debate that he had shot himself in the foot, had no chance of the nomination anymore, and stuff along the lines from that perspective, and yet most commentators thought he did phenomenal in the National Security debate.

The $10,000 bet is going to be the only thing people remember from this debate. They won't even remember what the bet was about. Just the fact that Romney actually thought it was perfectly reasonable to go around wagering $10,000.

The only people who will remember it are the drama queens on MSNBC, and people who don't give a crap about voting in the GOP primaries anyway.

Check your morning paper tomorrow!

EDIT: Or the Ted Kennedy line from Newt. Which of course is also bad for Romney.

Journalists aren't reflective of the attention span of the average American.

Who can give me a short summary of what happened ?

Thx.

(It looks like Newt had a good day, because he won the poll here by a big margin)

Just watch these clips:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/mitt-romney-newt-gingrich-first-jabs-moon-minerals-iowa-republican-debate-2011-politics-15130569

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/bachmanns-newt-mitt-romney-rant-gop-frontrunners-supporting-obamas-policies-politics-15130845

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ron-paul-newt-gingrichs-hypocrisy-gop-iowa-debate-2011-criticisms-frontrunner-politics-15131304?tab=9482931&section=4765066

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kac0aUI2Wm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXZ3i6Zj4PA

Everyone tackled Newt, who knocked everyone away.